Eagle has landed, carved into rock

Well, it isn’t named Eagle’s Rock for nothing...

An eagle-eyed visitor has spotted a very good reason for the name of a popular tourist haunt in one of Ireland’s most picturesque locations.

During one of his regular trips to the Burren last Sunday, Dr Eamon Doyle, a geologist at the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark, spotted an unusually-shaped rock amid the postcard-perfect scene.

As this picture shows, what Dr Doyle had seen was a two-metre high “bird-like figure” carved into the rock at the limestone-filled site.

And, while some may suggest the image — at, of all places, Eagle’s Rock — is too good to have developed without human help, the expert begs to differ.

According to the leading geologist, as the Burren area has a large amount of limestone rock it is more susceptible than most locations to wind and rain erosion.

Over time, this “geomorphology” can result in structures that — to the human eye — bear a striking resemblance to other images from nature.

“That’s one of the things about limestone. It can end up looking like faces, hearts, anything really. The human brain then likes to paste images onto this that we better understand,” he said.

While Dr Doyle has kept the exact location of the rock secret as getting close to the “bird-like” rock risks injury, an official tourist track will take visitors past the Eagle’s Rock site.

The expert has asked anyone with other unique photographs of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher landscape to send them to him at [e-mail].

Further details on the location, and how it developed over time, can be found at www.burren.ie